Believe it or not, a whole book has been written on the subject: The Pedigree of Jack and Various Allied Names by E.W.B. Nicholson.

The history of Jack as a pet name for John is a long and tangled one, as these things usually are. Most people assume that Jack is derived from the French Jacques, and that Jack should therefor be short for James rather than John. Nicholson debunked this notion, claiming that there is no recorded example of Jack ever being used to represent Jacques or James.

Jack is actually derived from the name Johannes, which was shortened to Jehan and eventually to Jan. The French were fond of tacking the suffix -kin onto many short names. French nasalization resulted in a new combination being pronounced Jackin instead of Jankin. The name Jackin was shortened to Jack.

By the fourteenth century, Jack had become a synonym for man or boy , and later was also used as a slang name for sailors.

In the United States, Jack became a popular Christian name. Jackie, for a short period, even became a unisex name. For a short time, the name Jack gained much prominence, especially after the U.S. elected a popular president named John, whose pet name was Jack.

Possible tangent #1: what possible use is it to have a nickname that's exactly as long as the original name?

It's quite handy if you have John L. Smith, and John D. Smith, for instance, in the same family. One or the other can be Jack, which helps immensely when they live in the same house, and share a phone.

Jacobean period in English history was King James, the Union Jack, the British flag is so nicknamed as it was King James tht first unified the falg as such. It should be called the Union of King James, but we shortened it to Union Jack.

Originally posted by melchizedek
Jacobean period in English history was King James, the Union Jack, the British flag is so nicknamed as it was King James tht first unified the falg as such. It should be called the Union of King James, but we shortened it to Union Jack.

Whoever told you this was wrong. Go and kick them on the shin for letting you make a fool of yourself in public.

King James did not unify the flag. The Union took place in the "Augustan" period when King James I, II and III were all dead.

The flag should therefore not be called the "Union of King James".

In any event, the flag is not correctly called the Union Jack, but the Union Flag.

hibernicus is right, at least about the Union Flag. The Union Jack properly refers to the small verion of the flag flown from ships. "Jack" in this context is a naval term for the flag which indicates the ship's nationality and has no connection with anybody called John, James or Jack.

I'm not so sure about the "Augustan" period, though. I had always taken this to refer to a period of literary, rather than constitutional, history.

- The crosses of George and Andrew were placed together by royal edict in 1606 for use as the Navy standard.

- The cross of Patrick was not added until 1707. This happened as part of the Act Of Union of 1707, joining England and Scotland. (Prior to 1707, the king (when he wasn't being executed or run out of the country) was the sovreign of both nations, jointly, but they were not joined as a single country.)

- No on knows exactly why the Union Flag is known as the Union Jack, although it is thought that "Jack" as a diminutive (and term of endearment) is the most likely cause.

- The Union Flag has never been adopted as the official flag of the Nation (although its traditional use has given it the weight of law).

James Francis Edward, Known variously as James III of England, James VIII of Scotland, the Old Pretender, the Melancholy Pretender... Deprived of his throne by the coup d'etat which deposed his father and installed William and Mary, and later by the Act of Settlement.

As for the "Augustan" period, like TomH I have never heard this term used for a historical period, but i believe it is correct.

The point is, King James did not invent the Union Flag, and that's not why it's popularly called the Union Jack.

You know, hibernicus, 1801 makes more sense to me. I remember that paintings from the U.S. War for Independence show a "simpler" British flag (since it did not have the fimbriations (extra lines) called for by the addition of Patrick's cross.

(I read too hastily as I got hit with an abend and a bad compile as I was posting and never got back here.)

I remember having the same confusion about JFK in high school and asking my teacher about it one day, much to the amusement of my classmates as my first name is "John". I'd never heard that "Jack" was a nickname of "John" and certainly no one had ever called me that, so it's hardly a natural assumption, yes?

Incidentally, my father-in-law is named Jack. They were going to name him John, decided everyone was going to call him Jack anyway, and put "Jack" on the birth certificate.

As for "Henry/Harry", I believe young Prince Henry of Britain is widely known as Harry, much as his older brother is called Wills.

jr8

"Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116"
-- proposed name for the baby of a Swedish couple, denied by courts

It's worth noting that in the United States "Jack" as a nickname for "John" is very common in the Northeast (including New England), but less so in the Southeast.

Case in point: My good friend Jack, who's from McRae in southern Georgia, spent a few years living in New Jersey. His coworkers, perhaps not wanting to seem unduly familiar, at first tried to call him "John" and he had to explain that his name is Jack, just Jack.

John, in fact, is one of his brothers. So that the two names are interchangeable to Yankees clearly never even occurred to their parents.

There's a Restoration Comedy, either The Beaux Stratagem or The Silent Woman, I think, in which one of the running jokes is about a character called John Daw. It's never explicitly stated, but there are lots of bird jokes, which suggests that the idea that Jack = John would have been quite familiar to an audience of that time.

Actually, Porpentine, I think that was what I was thinking of. It's a good ten years since I saw it and my memory is a little hazy. Why on earth I confused it with The Beux Stratagem, though, I don't know.